Andra Liemandt ensures The Kindness Campaign—and its mascot—continues spreading love.

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE KINDNESS CAMPAIGN

What is The Kindness Campaign (TKC), and what brought it about? In 2014, I made a video with my band, The Mrs, for the first song we wrote: “I Am Enough.” I was just wanting to celebrate women and all that they are, [even though] sometimes they felt they were not. The next year, my dear friend’s daughter died by suicide and trying to explain that to my children was very difficult. I created TKC (tkckindness.org) at my kitchen table with my two daughters. It was really something to help at their school. We created our main character, Enoughie Buddy—thinking that they could really express themselves and talk about what was happening at school through his eyes and really share that was helpful. One in four children come to the school system having experienced trauma by the age of three, and they didn’t have any tools at that time.

Where does TKC stand today? [We’ve reached] close to about 250,000 teachers, adults and children nationally. We also worked in Budapest with some Ukrainian refugees last year. This year, we already have 120 schools signed up for World Kindness Day on November 13, and we will serve 60,000 individuals at no cost with all of our tools. And we’ll send out my book, Enoughie Buddy Finds His Superpower, which launched in October. I also developed Kind Music, which has its own Spotify channel. I poured my resources into helping children unpack their emotions through songwriting. Just last year, we launched our Kind Leadership Program to teach older kids life skills.

Part of TKC’s lesson is teaching people to feel they are “enough.” What does that mean to you? Knowing you are valuable and that your self-worth is there.